


Skip a Beat (Boom)

by snapchattingnct



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, confident mark lee, it's cute per usual, just college student hyuck, lots of fluff, markhyuck fluff, pre med student mark, shy hyuck, side nomin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:15:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24087955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snapchattingnct/pseuds/snapchattingnct
Summary: For sof (@firelxrd on twt)."Plus an apple a day keeps the doctor away. But I'm not a doctor yet, so I don't count."Donghyuck thought that he might just be in love.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 33
Kudos: 466





	Skip a Beat (Boom)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [firelord](https://archiveofourown.org/users/firelord/gifts).



> Part 2 of your birthday gift, sof! Sorry that it took so long for me to finish this and post it. 
> 
> Hope that you enjoy this one as much as you did with the first one! I've been meaning to write a fic centered around med student markhyuck for a while, so here it is! 
> 
> Also titled is based off of 127's Boom~
> 
> Beta-ed version updated! Thank you Isis~

Donghyuck really didn’t know why he allowed Jaemin to drag him into this every time, but every month he found himself sitting in the College of Medicine, letting a bunch of pre-med students practice doing a physical on him. He didn’t mind it per say, Donghyuck just really didn’t have a real reason to be here. Jaemin on the other hand, had been pinning after one of the cute pre-med boys, so he had been coming to this event _religiously,_ in order to get closer to the said boy. 

As he looked up from where he sat, peeking from behind the patient screen divider, Donghyuck snickered at the sight of the bright blush that was spread across his best friend’s cheeks as his crush talked to him. Donghyuck knew for a fact that Jaemin’s heart rate reading was going to be pure _shit._ It was probably going to be off the charts for sure. 

He simply shook his head and turned his attention back down to his phone. He was waiting for the next student to stop by. The student that had just finished taking his heart rate was a cute, tall and lanky boy named Jisung. Donghyuck swore that he had never seen such a clumsy doctor in training before. Jisung dropped his stethoscope more times than he could even count and his hands were shaking the entire time. Donghyuck could only pray that he wasn’t going to study to become a heart surgeon or something of that nature with those clumsy hands of his. That boy would nick an artery before fixing anything. 

“Hey, I’m Mark,” a voice suddenly spoke out to him.

Donghyuck looked up from his phone, prepared for the next student, a greeting on the tip of his tongue, only for it to never come out, because by God, the boy standing in front of him was _cute_ . He was _so cute._

Sitting up a little straighter, Donghyuck placed away his phone without a second thought, mind still a complete mess as his heart rate spiked. _Fuck._

He managed to hum back a greeting, but that was all that he was able to do. Donghyuck was still a little star-struck by how damn cute his doctor in training was. 

“I’m here to measure your heart rate and blood pressure, you know, all that fun stuff, which I’m probably sure you already know since you’ve been through it all already.” Mark laughed, his nose scrunching up as he did so, and it made him ten times cuter, if _that_ was even possible. 

Donghyuck was making fun of Jaemin being a blubbering mess earlier, but now, he wasn’t all that much better. He was probably worse. His heart was in his throat and his hands were so clammy, like disgustingly clammy. 

He watched as Mark pulled some papers out from his bag, followed by his stethoscope.. When he was finished, Mark caught his eye, asking with a smile, “You ready?”

_No. Definitely not._ He thought, his heart racing even faster now. Gulping, Donghyuck stuttered out, “Yeah, sure…”

“Alright, cool.” 

Cool? This was not cool, not cool at all. 

Mark pulled out a pen from his pocket as he began to write some things down on his papers, “So, are you allergic to anything, peanuts? Eggs?”

The random question threw him extremely off guard. He blinked a few times, letting what Mark asked finally sink in. “What? Peanuts? God no, peanut butter is like my favorite thing in the world. I would be super depressed if I was allergic to it.”

“Creamy or crunchy?”

“What?” 

Mark laughed, his nose scrunching up again, “Creamy or crunchy peanut butter?”

“Oh, creamy all the way.” 

“Noted.” Mark nodded once, smiling, before he slipped on his stethoscope. 

Donghyuck was beyond lost as to why Mark had asked him about his allergies. Was the boy trying to make small talk? The students were indeed practicing on how to do a complete physical, but the students before Mark didn’t ask him anything like that. Whatever it may have been, Donghyuck was thankful because at least it help to calm down his heart a little.

It was short lived though, because before he knew it, the soft scent of laundry detergent hit him full force as Mark moved closer, making him swoon. “This might be a little cold, just letting you know.” 

“Huh?” 

The next thing he knew, Mark had his hands underneath his shirt, fingers cold as ice and an equally cold stethoscope touching his chest. The coldness made him jump in his seat, the planes of his cheeks burning red because _oh my god._

Mark all but laughed at him, eyes twinkling mirthfully behind his frames. With a shrug of his shoulders, he said haughtily, "I warned you, didn’t I?"

Donghyuck barely heard anything that Mark said because the blood pumping in his ears was so loud. Despite how cold the touch was, his skin was on _fire._ As Mark continued to listen to his heartbeat, his fingers gliding across his chest, leaving a blazing trail in its path, Donghyuck was pretty sure that he stopped breathing altogether.

"You can take a deep breath, you know that right?" Mark told him, a hint of a smile still present on his lips. What a tease.

"Yeah, I know..." Donghyuck breathed out, his words barely audible. He wasn't all too sure if Mark had heard him, because he nearly didn't, for the blood thundering in his ear was so much louder.

"Okay. Just wanted to make sure that you wouldn't pass out on me because that would be really bad if you did."

"Ha, very funny..."

"Thank you. I've been told that I'm a pretty funny guy." Mark winked. If Donghyuck wasn't breathing normally before then he surely wasn't breathing normally now.

After what seemed like a century had passed, Mark finally withdrew his stethoscope and hung it loosely around his neck. Nodding his head, he clicked his pen once and began to write down a few numbers on his papers. "That's a pretty heart rate you got there, _skippy_."

Donghyuck was beyond embarrassed. He wanted to die right then and there.

Then Mark had the audacity to ask, a knowing smile on his lips, "I wonder why?"

.

They've barely even made a dent in their statistics homework, when Jaemin suddenly slammed his textbook close and scooted his chair closer to him. Whispering excitedly, Jaemin said, "You would not _believe_ what happened today?"

Suppressing a groan, Donghyuck squeezed his eyes shut. He really did not want to remember anything that happened earlier that day. It was so god damn _embarrassing._

"Jeno asked me out on a coffee date!" Jaemin clasped his hands to his chest with hearts shining in his eyes.

"Oh, that's nice..." Donghyuck replied back half-heartedly, not nearly as enthusiastic as Jaemin had been about the whole situation and of course, his best friend took notice of this immediately.

"What's up with the sour mood, Duckie?"

"No reason..."

"Oh, there's definitely a reason." Jaemin pried, pushing all the way up into Donghyuck's personal space. He poked him on the side, Jaemin whined, "Tell me. Tell Nana."

Donghyuck knew that there was absolutely no reason in hiding anything from Jaemin because somehow, one way or another, he would manage to get the information out from him anyways. So with a long sigh, he shoved all of his notes to the side and buried his face into his arms.

"It was so embarrassing, Nana! Like super duper embarrassing. Just thinking about it is making my skin crawl."

Jaemin laughed out loud at him, causing a few other students in the library to turn around to glare at them. Toning down his laughter, he pinched Donghyuck's ears, whispering, "Oh, trust me. I can tell. Your ears are bright red, Duckie. Alright, come on, story time."

"Well, after the clumsy first year, Jisung, did his practice run on me, another student came in." Donghyuck began.

"Okay. And?" Jaemin urged him to continue on.

"And this super cute boy, Mark, came in and did his practice run. Only thing was that I was a blubbering mess the entire time he was there! My heartbeat was all over the place and oh my god, Nana, it was embarrassing!"

"Oh, does Duckie have a crush?" Jaemin teased. "I think that you have a crush."

Lifting his head up from the table, Donghyuck threw a pointed look at his best friend. “I know that it’s a crush. I’m not that dumb, Nana.” 

"That is debatable."

"Oh, shut up. Stop making fun of me. I'm already so embarrassed..."

"You'll get over it, Duckie. No need to stress." Jaemin patted his shoulder reassuringly. "You just got to get over your spazzing heart, then you'll be able to sweep your cute doctor off of his feet, no problem."

"Like that's so _easy_ to do." Donghyuck huffed out. "You're only saying that because you managed to make some progress with your cute doctor."

"If I can do it, you can—," Jaemin stopped mid-sentence, eyes growing wide. All of a sudden, Jaemin was rushing to pack up all of his stuff, shoving his notes and books into his bag.

"I can what?" Donghyuck asked. When Jaemin showed no signs of stopping, Donghyuck pulled on his arm, crying out, "What are you doing?"

"Uh, I'll see you later, Hyuck. Bye!"

He gasped out loud. "Wait, what? Nana? You promised me that you would help me with my statistics project. You little liar!"

Jaemin was already leaving when he turned back around to whisper, "I'll help you later!"

"What do you mean _later?_ It's due tonight!" Donghyuck called out, but Jaemin turned a complete deaf ear to his words and left.

"I can help you with it."

He whipped his head around so fast that Donghyuck was sure that he got whiplash. He was shocked to the core when he turned around and found Mark standing right in front of him, smiling like the perfect, pretty boy he was.

Mark slid a jar of _Skippy_ peanut butter across the table along with a container of sliced apples, "Study break?" As he sat down into the seat that Jaemin had previously occupied, he added with a wink, "Plus an apple a day keeps the doctor away. But I'm not a doctor yet, so I don't count."

Donghyuck thought that he _might_ just be in love.

As he took a hold of the jar of peanut butter, Donghyuck turned it around in his hands, smiling when he caught sight of the _'creamy'_ label on it. So that was why Mark had asked him about his preference in peanut butter earlier today.

"Are you a stalker?" Donghyuck asked as he dipped an apple slice into the jar. Pointing his apple at Mark in an accusing manner, he added, "How did you know that I liked the Skippy brand of peanut butter the most? And how did you know that I was here, in the library out of all places?"

Shrugging his shoulders as if it wasn't a big deal, Mark said, "I have my ways."

"That's like extra creepy, dude."

"Maybe." Mark laughed. Dunking his own piece into the jar, he said, "I'm just kidding. I just came into the library when I heard you and your friend bickering. You guys were pretty loud."

Flushing red, Donghyuck stopped mid-bite, a look of horror crossing his face. "Wait... does that mean you heard everything that we were talking about?"

"Nah, I just came in. I didn't hear anything embarrassing if that's what you're worried about." Then pointing at all the notes that he had spread out on the table, Mark asked, "Are those your stats notes?"

Looking at the mess that was laid out in front of them, Donghyuck sighed before nodding sodelmly. Biting into his apple slice with a little more force than necessary, he said, "Yeah, it is."

"You said that you had a project due tonight, didn't you?"

"Yeah." Taking a glance at the time, Donghyuck sighed again. "It's due in like four hours."

"Okay, cool, that means we got some time." Mark nodded. Stuffing his face with another peanut butter covered apple slice, he began to read over Donghyuck’s messy excuse of notes. "Better get started shouldn't we? If you want to finish in time that is."

"Wait, you were serious about helping me?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" Mark told him. "I wouldn't be sitting here and sharing my peanut butter and apples if I wasn't."

Mark Lee was a blessing sent to him from heaven, Donghyuck was sure about it.

Not surprisingly, Mark knew quite a bit about stats. He helped Donghyuck breeze through his entire project without a single gitch. Granted, Mark probably did like almost fifty percent of the work for him. But Mark did make sure he understood all of the topics and concepts before moving on. He was a much better study buddy than Jaemin, for sure. Not to mention, Mark was extra cute and he brought him food too. That was double the brownie points in his books.

Before he knew it, the entire stats project that he had been stressing about all day was finished and submitted.

Leaning back in his chair and stretching, Donghyuck let out a tiny yawn. Beside him, he noticed that Mark was doing the same. As he looked around, he saw that the library had become fairly vacant. There was barely anyone left and the sun had been long gone.

As he began to pack up his things, Donghyuck looked over at Mark. "Thank you so much for helping me finish that project. You literally saved my life, like I don't think you even understand."

"Oh, it's no problem." Mark flashed him a smile. "If you ever need help again, just let me know."

"Are you going to just pop up out of thin air whenever I'm struggling with stats then?" Donghyuck couldn't help but tease.

"Yeah, I could." Mark hummed. "But where's your phone, I'll put my number in so that you can text me whenever you need help."

He dropped his textbook in shock, lips parted wide open as his jaw went slack. "What?"

Mark rolled out his eyes, "I'm trying to give you my number, dummy." Putting his hand out, Mark motioned for Donghyuck to hand him his phone. "Plus, you're cute, so I _definitely_ want your number too."

Donghyuck was speechless to say the least.

.

He really wasn't expecting much when they exchanged phone numbers earlier. Even though Mark insisted that it wasn't that big of a deal to text him if Donghyuck ever needed help with stats, or with any homework in general, Donghyuck wasn't really planning on texting him, like ever. Every time that he would even think about possibly texting Mark, his heart started to race super fast and he was transported back to what had happened earlier that morning. Donghyuck was way too embarrassed and he didn’t want a repeat of it either. 

But it looked like he didn't even need to worry about that because as he was getting ready for bed, his phone went off with a buzz, a new notification popping up on his screen. Confused at who could have been texting him right now, Donghyuck picked up his phone hesitantly.

"Doctor Lee hearteu?" Donghyuck read the name of the sender out loud. Brows furrowing together, he raked his mind for who it could have been. The only people in his contacts that had nicknames were Jaemin and Renjun, so he couldn't figure out who else it could have been.

“Wait.... Mark?” He gasped out loud, his cheeks burning. As he opened the text message, he felt like he was two seconds away from passing the fuck out. "Oh, my god..."

_'Hey skippy, I forgot to ask you this, but how does lunch sound tomorrow? I'm free after twelve. Let me know when you're free.'_

"Oh, my god...,” his heartbeat rising again, this time a little more than before. "He called me skippy... my god."

Holding a hand to his chest, Donghyuck took a deep breath in. Willing his heart to stop beating so fast, he hovered his fingers over the keyboard, trying to think of a reply. 

Did he really want to go on a lunch date with Mark? _Hell yes._ Was he prepared to go on said lunch date with Mark? _Hell no._

Before he could change his mind, Donghyuck quickly typed up a reply and pushed the send button. He held his breath at the sight of three tiny bubbles appearing on the screen. 

_‘Cool. I’ll meet you right outside of your last class ;)’_

Oh, my god. Mark Lee just sent him a winking emoji. Donghyuck was seriously going to pass out. 

.

The next time that he saw Mark again aside from their little lunch date was nearly a month later when it was time for the pre-med students to practice doing a physical again. The only difference this time around was that Donghyuck was much better off and his heart wasn’t racing as hard as it did before. 

As the students took their turns with taking his heart rate, he waited patiently for the one doctor in training he was looking forward to the most. 

“How’s my _favorite_ patient doing?” Mark said as soon as he popped in. Swiveling around on his chair once, he turned towards him with a smile. 

It seemed like no matter what was happening, Mark was always smiling. 

Donghyuck surely didn’t mind though. Mark had a dazzling smile. He could look at it all day if he could, but Mark didn’t need to know about that.

“You ready?” Mark raised his stethoscope up in question. 

He nodded. 

Donghyuck had been trying to calm down his heart the whole entire time and so far, he was fairing pretty well. So when Mark slipped his hand underneath his shirt again, letting the cool stethoscope touch his skin, Donghyuck was prepared for it. He barely even flinched. 

It seemed like Mark was impressed too because he let out a low whistle, “Not so skippy this time around are you?”

“Nope.” Donghyuck replied back a tad bit smugly as he stared right into those gorgeous brown eyes. He wasn’t shy nor embarrassed, at all.

“Your heartbeat sounds pretty regular this time too. That’s a good sign. I thought that I was going to have to take you to the hospital for a premature heart attack last time.”

Rolling his eyes, Donghyuck scoffed. “Ha, real funny.”

“I wasn’t kidding! Your heart was literally spazzing.” 

“Well, I was fine. It was a one time thing.” 

Raising a single eyebrow at his comment, Mark asked, “Are you sure about?” 

“Definitely.” He nodded. 

“Okay,” Mark hummed, seeming to agree with him at that very moment. Then as he pressed the stethoscope to another area, he asked, “Are you free after this? Let’s go on another date.” 

Well, _fuck._ His heart totally skipped a beat. 

**Author's Note:**

> [twt](https://twitter.com/markeuhyuckie/status/1239041276454076417?s=20) | [cc](https://curiouscat.me/markeuhyuckie)


End file.
